Dungeon Crawler Quest(Original Fantasy)

((Guess who snuck in some writing time.))

“We’re probably better off ambushing the afternoon raid. It’ll cut their numbers and we don’t really lose anything by waiting a few hours,” well you suppose killing them all quickly might have left you more time to maybe get a dungeon or another mission or something in.

“That’s my thinking as well,” Maya responds. “No reason to underestimate our enemies,” She turns back to the village leader, “Can you show us to the pastures, and point out where the attacks usually come in.”

Anshelm grumbles a bit, but doesn’t seem particularly put out as you are led out to the fields. There are only a few dozen animals, not enough space for anything else really. They won't be a problem though, regular animals tend to ignore branded and monsters like they aren't even there. Bad for their survival, good for not having panicky animals about, and their scent should mask yours from the wargs.

You and Maya take the time to set up. Sera gets set up on the roof of one of the buildings at the edge of the pasture, milking stalls you think? Either way she’s up and out of harm’s way entirely, she has the range for it. Anshelm is easy enough to hide in a pile of straw even if he does grumble a lot about it.

The attack will likely come through the as yet unrepaired hole in the pastures fencing, easy access and all that, so you position the Anshelm straw pile in the general vicinity of that. Maya stealths up to scout out beyond the fence, you notice that Maya’s ‘outline’ is a lot fainter and harder to see now, you suppose her stealth must have ranked up too.

You and Shimah keep back near the buildings for now, you crouched behind some barrels and Shimah back in the small building Sera is hiding on top of, she’s too tall for much else. It sucks though, farm animals stink. You think you’ve never been happier to be from a city, and not just because of the much lower mortality rates.

A couple hours pass in absolute boredom, with Maya stopping by to give the all clear every ten minutes or so. You are just beginning to regret your decision to ambush when Maya swings back by to tell you she thinks they’re coming, the forest has gone silent of normal animal activity.

You tense yourself up and get ready to strike as soon as some enter the pasture, the nasty farm animal stink should cloak all of your scents, so they should be fairly surprised when you attack. You first hear the howls, approaching from the treeline, and then the sounds of heavy animals crashing through the trees, they apparently don’t care much for stealth. The first four wargs crash through widening the hole in the fencing, and you pop up blasting all four of them with frost. Rime forms on their fur and they stumble as their pace slows, one even freezes entirely, stiffening into a furry ice statue… you also took off a good quarter of their health.

The next ‘rank’ of wargs crashes into the first set, knocking them into a sprawling confusion of snapping, snarling canines, you don’t see any elites yet, every warg is just a warg, if a level three one. As they begin to reorient themselves, and still more come snarling in, Anshelm pops out of hiding and shouts a challenge, drawing their attention, right as two of the slowed wargs go up in flames from Sera. Both are down below half and dropping quick from burn.

As eight wargs bear down on Anshelm he sets himself against their attack and weathers it. On one hand his spear doesn’t do much damage, but the wargs can barely hurt him. Those that manage to hit, and not all of them do, some blinded by the flash of his armor, only do one or two damage on a hit. Then you see something absurd, a couple of wargs with nasty knife wounds burst through the fencing, frothing at the mouth and begin tearing at the frozen warg… you guess Maya’s charm from her accessory finally went off.

You take another shot at the wargs surrounding Anshelm while keeping an eye on the fencing, slowing several down and freezing another. You notice it then, and are glad you’ve been keeping an eye out. You see dark rippling outlines of two wargs slinking in past the combat. A burst of frost outlines them further, and you call out, “Sera, we’ve got stealthed ones, burn ‘em.”

Your answer is two lances of fire that engulf the slowed ‘warg stalkers’ they have less health than the normal wargs, and when you briefly see them, their fur is black rather than the normal brown or gray. Shimah joins at this point, casting a healing spell on Anshelm to repair what little damage he has taken. There aren’t any elites for her to debuff yet though, and Anshelm seems to be in a bit of a stalemate, he isn’t hurting the wargs much, but they aren’t really hurting him either. You glance at the stalkers, they’re coming right at you, maybe assassin types go for the second most threatening target? Either way, another burst of artic air from your staff puts them down.

The charmed wargs finish off the frozen one at this point and hit the main pack, causing all sorts of confusion. Although it looks like the charm wears off shortly afterward. Sera and you can begin concentrating on the main group as well now with no more coming in, and they begin to fall. You see Maya creeping in as well, so there must not be any more coming. The group is put down in short order. You and Sera both need an amrita, but otherwise that was pretty easy.

“Everyone okay?” Maya asks as the corpses fade away. “There were a four of the rogue wargs, but I was only able to kill two before they slipped by.”

“Me and Sera got ‘em,” you say, “No problems on our end.”

“It was thanks to Al, she’s the one who saw them coming,” Seraphine adds shyly as she hops down from the top of the stall.

“That was almost suspiciously easy,” Shimah adds in as she and Anshelm wander over to the group, Anshelm is still picking straw out of his armor. “As a D rank I would expect these enemies to be stronger… perhaps it is only their numbers that elevated the rank?”

“Nah, I think my armor is just really good for my level. I mean if they were still doing the damage the wargs were doing when I was in my starter gear I would have gotten mulched back there,” Anshelm points out. “I think I need a new spear soon though, this Goblin one isn’t cutting it anymore.”

“We should still be careful when we attack the lair,” Maya points out as the rewards come up, the quest information says we’re only about twenty percent done, so there are still a lot of them.”

Congratulations!

You have gained.

18 Experience
2 Job points
12 Gilder

The party has gained

2 potions
1 [Warg Cloak] Fluffy and warm, stylish too. Adds to Defense Value 60
1 [Warg Hide Armor] Rough and poorly fitting, nonetheless provides a quality defense. Value 70 Cannot Equip

“Ah nothing amazing in the treasure either.” Maya adds a moment later. “If no one objects, I say we let Anshelm carry this until we’re done, we can divide this up later. He is the strongest of us after all.”

Anshelm looks downright happy at that. It’s weird. “Of course, carrying this much is no problem for me!”

Nothing there is of particular interest, you suppose that makes sense for a bunch of fodder enemies, you shrug, “That’s fine, we should get going though. If we still have so many enemies left, we want to finish up so that we aren’t returning home after nightfall though.”

“Indeed so,” Shimah responds, “We are not at the level where traveling at night is wise.”

Why are Sera’s cheeks puffed out like that, its kinda cute, but the sideways glare you caught her giving Shimah is weird. “Y-yes, Al is right, we should keep going,” well it’s passed, whatever it was.

Anshelm thumps his fist to his chestplate, still looking weirdly pleased. “Alright, let’s go crush these things!”

Once you’ve informed the village leader of what happened, and where you are going you set out through the woods, toward the massive oak tree you can see towering over the forest. There are very few normal animals about even with the first group of wargs dead, but that’s pretty normal for a monster infested area, monsters have the same hate on for normal animals that they do humans. Maya stays in stealth and scouts ahead of course, so luckily you don’t walk right into the problem ahead.

Maya returns after you’ve been walking for some time, to report in. “There’s a small pack of wargs circling the area ahead, some kind of outer guard I suppose. It’s only eight normal wargs, and two of the sneaky ones, but they have well… one of the White Wargs with them.”

Well crap, your first bonus boss already reduced to mere elite. This could get a little dicey, especially if you try to go to fast. Well, since you’re already being cautious, you should keep being so.

“Why don’t we try to draw them off? That way we aren’t fighting them and whatever hears the fight from the lair.”

“Probably a good idea, but the lair will be alerted either way…. If we can stretch out the time it takes for more enemies to arrive, that’s in our favor though,” Maya says thoughtfully.

“Um… why don’t Al, Shimah and I get up into the trees?” Seraphine points out, “Even if it was too far for Al and Shimah’s spells to reach in the pasture, if Anshelm draws them under the trees we’re in, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Good idea,” you say, glancing around, these trees are all pretty sturdy old growth, shouldn’t have any problem holding your weight. Sera mumbles something about it not being a big deal, looking slightly red faced, you really are going to have to address her crush at some point, the logical part of you points out. The rest of you cheerfully ignores your logic and concentrates on the task at hand.

“I agree, I will be much more effective if I need only concentrate on healing one person,” Shimah adds.

“Well that’s settled then,” Maya says, “I’ll unstealth just long enough for them to notice me and then lead them back here, if I’m lucky my charm will activate again!”

“Hey, isn’t that pretty dangerous though,” Anshelm points out, looking worried. “You don’t have the defenses I do.”

“I am much faster though,” Maya responds, “I’m sure you can pull them away before they catch me.”

“Right, of course I will,” Anshelm responds quickly, “Just be careful.”

Maya gives you all a moment to prepare, the three of you getting up in your selected trees. Sera needs a little boost to reach a branch, and ends up blushing and apologizing profusely to Anshelm when she has to step on his head to get up there. Maya sets off and soon after you see an explosion of actinic light in the distance, followed by enraged howls, you suppose that’s one way to get their attention. You prepare yourself, and soon the wargs come. You see Maya ghost in just ahead, and Anshelm rushes forward, as the snarls approach clashing his spear on his shield and calling out a challenge that would scatter every bird for a long way if there were any. Then the wargs pour in under the trees, you can’t help but notice that they do more damage than the ones in the pasture, maybe a buff from the white warg?

You don’t have too long to ponder, arcs of arctic rime sweep through the warg pack and lances of fire stab down, striking those already scorched by lightning. Then the white warg arrives, smashing through the undergrowth with a baleful howl that visibly energizes the others… yeah, it’s SP is below max, it definitely buffed the others. It’s odd, the monster that nearly killed Anshelm shows up as being only level five, it has less health than the ogre boss did too. As soon as it enters the clearing Shimah hits it with a hex and it stumbles as the debuff takes, weakening its muscles.

Still the confusing melee takes all your attention, the swirling mass of snapping, snarling fur surrounding Anshelm takes effort to put down, and soon Shimah has to focus on healing. Maya picks off the stealthy wargs quickly enough, but they still get a bite in on Anshelm, which doesn a fair chunk of damage, and even weakened the white warg can still do a reasonable amount.

Several times, wargs snarl and snap at the base of your tree, but none are strong enough to topple it, so instead they just waste their time. One by one the lesser wargs drop, and the health of the white warg begins to sink into the yellow, Anshelm is as healthy as ever, and although Shimah has gone through an amrita, there hasn’t been any other trouble.

Then the next wave comes. At least sixteen wargs, you can hardly count given the melee, as well as a second white warg. What the hell. You can hear more coming in the distance too, well at least you won’t have to worry about hunting down stragglers. You stop holding back and just fire spells as often as you can, there’s no shortage of targets, Sera concentrates, along with Maya, on finishing the first white warg while Shimah debuffs the new one. One advantage to this kind of continuous battle… Shimah’s personal skill must count it as one big room, because you haven’t seen her debuffs fail to strike even once yet.

The first of the white wargs falls not to blade or spell, but simply due to Maya’s poison and Sera’s burn. Regular wargs continue to occupy Anshelm, who practically disappears under the weight of his enemies. You can really only tell he’s there by the occasional shouted challenge echoing over the howling and snarling of monsters.

Once again their numbers begin to wane, and once again more arrive, this time along with a new enemy, a huge warg the size of a draft horse, covered in scars. It’s howl rips through the clearing, deafening you for a moment, and you see every warg in the clearing heal, and suddenly find yourself doing less damage. A glance at the name over its head confirms it. Warg Den Mother. This ones the boss, it has half again as much health as the white wargs and shows as level six.

You down an Ether, no time to waste on Amritas and redouble your efforts to put down the lesser wargs. Shimah starts debuffing as soon as she drops another heal on Anshelm. Your still making progress, but it takes longer now, and uses more resources.

Wargs continue to fall, and soon eough the white warg is out of SP and the lesser wargs are back to barely harming Anshelm, you aren’t the only ones using resources after all. Things are going well. Shimah still has to focus on healing Anshelm, the Den Mother hits like a runaway wagon train, but it’s going well, they are dwindling.

Then apparently your threat grows enough for the Den Mother to notice you. The huge monster pulls away despite Anshelm’s attacks and slams into your tree, the sickening crack of a tree trunk breaking rattles your bones and suddenly you’re falling.

Shit. Pain. Ow. You blast ice into the looming monsters face and roll away when you hit the ground, your health drops from the fall, and the den mother is suddenly the focus of everyones attacks, bathed in fire, and challenged again until it’s attention is pulled away, you can’t help but sigh in relief…. You’re on the ground now though. You take a potion and blast away the wargs nearby, nothing for it. Anshelm does his best, but you still get to become far to familiar with the feeling of getting bitten by angry wargs. Shimah seems capable of getting you both healed though.

Still it’s really only a matter of time. Lesser wargs drop one by one, and the white warg falls too, until at last it’s just the den mother fighting viciously to the last. At last it falls, smoke rising from its body as it begins to dissolve.

Quest Complete!
The Wargs are slain! Your hard work will be remembered by the City of Altkhot. Since this is a city mission, no turn in is required.
Reward: 90 Gilder

“Well I suppose that means we’re done,” Maya calls out tiredly, her SP is drained entirely. Anshelm’s is pretty low too, and he’s a bit hurt. Everyone is pretty much okay though. Then the combat rewards pop up.

Congratulations!

You have Gained

95 Experience
5 Job points
45 Gilder

The Party has looted
3 potions
1 hi potion
2 amrita

[White Warg Cloak] The Hide of a great white warg. Resists fire and adds to defense.
[Den Mother Talisman] A silver talisman carved an image of the crescent moon. Boosts the duration of buffing spells and grants a bonus to SP
[Lesser Lupine Race Mod] Become one with the wilds! Grants a small number of lupine traits. Increases Agility and Perception at the cost of Magical Power. Value 200

“Well that’s an interesting set of loot,” Maya muses.

“I, um… I would like the cloak if no one minds,” Seraphine calls out from her perch in the tree, “It’s simply better than mine,” She glances at you too for some reason, you wonder why, it’s not like you’re going to object, you already have one.

“Nothing too interesting for me, but I’ve been pretty lucky lately. I’ll just take the regular warg cloak from before for selling if that’s fine with everybody,” Anshelm adds with a shrug.

“The talisman appears to be meant for a Stalwart cleric. I would not mind it, simply for the gilder value, but I do not mind regardless. As long as I receive something of value,” Shimah puts in.

“I actually wouldn’t mind the race mod,” Maya says consideringly. “I don’t use magic anyway, so the downside is pretty meaningless to me.”

Well you aren’t sure what to go for. The idea of race mods is interesting, but this one is kind of bad for you. Also you leveled up and your skills increased in rank, your basic job ones anyway. It looks like you scored a new spell. You’ll have to take a closer look at your status pane later.

[]Loot division?
What do you want to do when you return to the city?
[]You don’t really feel like going home again, chances of catching mom home and awake two days in a row are pretty low anyway. Hang out with one or more of your group?
[]Head to the Inn and relax, maybe socialize with some other branded.
[]Shopping time!
[]Something else? (Write In)

-1Potion, -2 amrita, -1 Ether

Al Lv3
Ice Elementalist D
Health 43/61
SP 25/67

Maya Lv4
Dual Blade Hunter D
Health 50/58
Sp 3/33

Anshelm Lv3
Spear Warrior D
Health 125/133
SP 6/31

Shimah Lv3
Hexer Cleric D
Health 72/72
SP 35/78

Seraphine Lv3
Fire Elementalist D
Health 48/48
Sp 29/61

 

Wolf girl Maya is GO!!!


[X] Maya gets the race mod, Sera gets the cloak.
-[X] Propose that loot that will be sold because no one is using it have its value in gilder be split evenly among the group as a way of advancing everyone. If anyone disagrees then withdraw the proposal and give the Talisman to Shimah. Ask Maya to make the proposal... she's the one who can best spin it without coming off like if they're doing a 'loyalty test'... you don't want anyone to feel pressured into giving stuff up and feeling like everyone else sees them as selfish.

[X] Alice: Ether, Potion
[X] Sera: White Warg Cloak
[X] Maya: Lesser Lupine Race Mod
[X] Anshelm: 3 potions, hipotion
[X] Shimah: Amirita
-[X] Remind people that selling specific loot straight to other Branded with the traits required might net more Gilder (like selling Den Mother Talisman to Jack the Stalwart Cleric). And suggest that Maya be the one to make the sale due to her high charisma.



[X]You don’t really feel like going home again, chances of catching mom home and awake two days in a row are pretty low anyway. Hang out with one or more of your group?
-[X] Celebrate. You've completed most of the things a neophyte group should be able to accomplish!
- -[X] Hang out with Seraphine, take her out to dinner or something. Make sure she has a good time, as best as you can possibly show her. Maybe take her dancing or something like that, ask her what kinds of things she likes to do in her spare time. And now the two of you are a matching set too!

 

I figure we should sell it.

Loot!

[X] Propose that loot that will be sold because no one is using it have its value in gilder be split evenly among the group as a way of advancing everyone. Ask Maya to make the proposal... she's the one who can best spin it without coming off like if they're doing a 'loyalty test'... you don't want anyone to feel pressured into giving stuff up and feeling like everyone else sees them as selfish.

[X] Remind people that selling specific loot straight to other Branded with the traits required might net more Gilder (like selling Den Mother Talisman to Jack the Stalwart Cleric)

If anyone disagrees:

[X] Alice: Ether, Potion, Amirita, Warg Hide Armor
[X] Sera: White Warg Cloak
[X] Maya: Lesser Lupine Race Mod
[X] Anshelm: Warg Cloak, 3 potions, hipotion
[X] Shimah: Den Mother Talisman, Amirita

[X]You don’t really feel like going home again, chances of catching mom home and awake two days in a row are pretty low anyway. Hang out with one or more of your group?
-[X] Celebrate. You've completed most of the things a neophyte group should be able to accomplish!

 

Sera isn't replacing her robe. The Cloak is an accessory. Literally the the same one you have. Other than that, vote looks fine Xic.

 

Ah cool will rework a little.

 

Yay, Ice Magic and Staves leveled.

Social:
[X] Mention that you got an Icicle Spear (Single target Medium Damage. Medium chance to slow, very small chance to freeze. 4 SP) just now, and your bonus range and power with the staff just increased. Not very useful for your typical crowd control tactics, actually, but probably good to help Maya and Sera to take out enemies at range if needed.

Loot:
[X] Alice: 1 Ether, 1 Potion

[X] Sera: White Warg Cloak
- [X] Compliment her, and tells her that she matches Alice now

[X] Maya: Warg Hide Armor, Lesser Lupine Race Mod
- [X] Ask who can equip the Warg Hide Armor (Maya, Anshlem, Shimah), then tell them to model it for us, for SCIENCE!
- [X] Get Anshelm to scratch Maya's new ears...
- [] Ask Maya if she is sure about the race mod, having some access to magic might help later, of if she can unequip it
-- [] Race Mod tutorial, please, @yrsillar
-- [] If it can be equipped and unequipped for free, tell everyone to model with it

[X] Anshelm: Warg Cloak, 3 Potions, Hi-potion

[X] Shimah: 1 Amrita, Den Mother Talisman
- [X] Suggest her to sell it to the one Stalwart Cleric we saw back in the Inn (Jack)

[X] Remind people that selling specific loot straight to other Branded with the traits required might net more Gilder (like selling Den Mother Talisman to Jack the Stalwart Cleric)


Actions:
[X] You don’t really feel like going home again, chances of catching mom home and awake two days in a row are pretty low anyway. Hang out with one or more of your group?
-[X] Celebrate. You've completed most of the things a neophyte group should be able to accomplish!




EDIT: Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and just happy holiday to the rest!

 

Will get a race mod tutorial out sometime later, no time at the moment. I will say they can only be equipped in the city and that removing them, without switching for another race mod costs Gilder.

 

[x] Grosstoad

 

Woohoo. Only one more spell, but still, one more spell! Finally having a single target will be nice. Do not forget to share with the group what it does, and ask them what their new ability is!

So:


Social:
[X] Mention that you got an Icicle Spear (Single target Medium Damage. Medium chance to slow, very small chance to freeze. 4 SP) just now, and your bonus range and power with the staff just increased. Not very useful for your typical crowd control tactics, actually, but probably good to help Maya and Sera to take out enemies at range if needed.

Loot:
[X] Alice: 1 Ether, 1 Potion
[X] Sera: White Warg Cloak
- [X] Compliment her, and tells her that she matches Alice now
[X] Maya: Warg Hide Armor, Lesser Lupine Race Mod
- [X] Ask who can equip the Warg Hide Armor (Maya, Anshlem, Shimah), then tell them to model it for us, for SCIENCE!
- [X] Get Anshelm to scratch Maya's new ears...
[X] Anshelm: Warg Cloak, 3 Potions, Hi-potion
[X] Shimah: 1 Amrita, Den Mother Talisman
- [X] Suggest her to sell it to the one Stalwart Cleric we saw back in the Inn (Jack)
[X] Remind people that selling specific loot straight to other Branded with the traits required might net more Gilder (like selling Den Mother Talisman to Jack the Stalwart Cleric)

Actions:
[X] You don’t really feel like going home again, chances of catching mom home and awake two days in a row are pretty low anyway. Hang out with one or more of your group?
-[X] Celebrate. You've completed most of the things a neophyte group should be able to accomplish!

 

[X] Plan Grosstoad

 

Martial types probably won't get Active actions from their Skills as often as casters do, but they probably get better Passive effects in general. So, might be only Sera and Shimah who get new abilities.

Or maybe Martials also get named Passive effects?

 

Anshelm mentionned that he will soon get a new 'upgrade' after the Crystal Lake, but i am not sure if it's new actives or just a boost to his current one:

However, Maya got a skill named "Twisting the Knife" that costs SP recently. I don't think it's C-rank either, because, well, she would have been higher than level 3 in that case.

 

Xicree.

Like your plan, but you should mention how the potions are divvied up,
and say that one plus of the sell everything not useful than share the money that the most charismatic person can do it and probably get better prices.

 

There you go.

 

Spoiler: Race Mods

So you've found your first Race Mod. Ready to leave normalcy behind and become something else entirely? Well keep in mind that Race Mods, unlike most equipment are a commitment. Once equipped a race mod can only be removed in two ways. The first is equipping a new race mod. The second is going to the cathedral to have yourself returned to human. The second costs money, to the tune of 20 Gilder multiplied by your current level. Lastly, when unequipped, Race Mods are destroyed.

Now Race mods will generally grant a bonus to two stats and a penalty to one. There is some variation, but most will follow this standard. It should be noted that the stat boosts and penalties also change your racial stat caps, while the mod is equipped. Some mods provide secondary benefits, such as alternate forms of movement, enhancing one or more the senses, or perhaps bonuses with certain types of magic or weapons. The rarer types of race mod may also grant unique racial skills usable only while said mod is equipped.

So think carefully when choosing your race mod. They can change your abilities significantly as you rise in the ranks.

Merry Christmas, have a tutorial!

 

[X] Xicree

 

Merry Christmas to you too!

I am actually a bit surprised that Race Mods don't level like everything else seems to.

 

Maybe they stack for increased effect in tiers? Equipping two lesser lupine mods turn into lupine?

Should see if there is information about racial types when we get back to town. If not, that's something we could compile and sell later on. We could also compile equipment stats (but not it's location) and possibly drive up demand.

 

...and right,
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you all!

 

It seems like they're gear rather than skills. IE: Level them by finding rarer versions.

Presumably a greater wolf mod exists somewhere, or potentially 3-4 more tiers.

 

+1 Ether, +1 Amrita

“I’m fine with everyone taking the items they want, I’ll just have the Ether and an Amrita, should save me from needing to shop for items tomorrow,” you decide after a moment. You are starting to wish you had a bag though; limited inventory is a bit of a pain.

“Then I will take the other Amrita, if no one has any objections,” Shimah responds.

“Sure, sure, potions for Anshelm, and the cheap armor for me as a bonus. Sera gets her cloak, plenty for everyone,” Maya says, examining the race mod crystal as it appears for her.

You glance at your newly upgraded skills as everyone takes their things. Although you do glance over at Sera as she equips her cloak, “Lookin’ good, we match now I guess.”

Wait, crap, no. You aren’t supposed to be encouraging her, now she’s blushing and fidgeting with the edge of the cloak, “I-I’m glad you like it,” Sera responds shyly. Stop laughing Maya.

“Anyway,” You begin loudly, no you aren’t just trying to change the subject. “I was thinking, when it comes to selling gear, it might be better to sell right to other branded rather than just selling to the shop. Like that talisman, there’s a Stalwart cleric hanging around the Goblin, he’d probably pay better for it.”

“I had intended something of the sort, the shops in the city do give poor value,” Shimah says, “It makes me wonder, some of the older branded spoke of an auction house for gear. It appears that one requires an invitation for it though.”

“I’ve heard something similar, though I think you only need to reach a certain level to be invited,” Maya adds, sounding thoughtful, “It’s a little irritating, but I suppose there are few enough of us low levels at any given time that we’re all usually in the same couple of Inns anyway.”

“Makes sense,” Anshelm responds as you begin heading back to the village, even if you don’t need to turn in the quest, you should probably let the village know they’re clear for now. “We hardly need an auction house if we’re all hanging out in the same building anyway.”

“It is strange how disorganized Altkhot is,” Shimah adds, “I am unused to things being so…. I do not know the word.” She looks frustrated for a moment, “Chaotic? No, perhaps individualistic?”

“Oh, what are things like where you are from then, Miss Shimah?” Sera asks, she seems to have forgotten her minor hostility toward the cleric for the moment.

“Very organized, the branded are more like a military force, one’s parties are determined by superiors for greater efficiency…. I do not know how well it works though, given that Altkhot seems so much wealthier as a city.”

Huh, you always knew Altkhot’s governor was kinda weird in how light a hand he is. Well, you’re glad, you wouldn’t want to be press ganged into some military thing. In any case, you cut in, “Hey, did you guys want to stay together and celebrate when we get back? We’ve done a mission now, so we’ve done everything a new group can accomplish, seems like as good a reason as any to celebrate.”

Parties aren’t usually your thing, if only because you aren’t usually invited, it’s strangely nice to have the opportunity. “I wouldn’t mind,” Sera responds quickly.

“Yeah, we can all chip in for some extra food and drink, sounds fun,” Anshelm sounds pretty pleased with the idea too.

“Well I wasn’t going to do much else tonight, sure.” Maya responds sunnily.

“You have been good to me; I would hardly refuse the invitation.” Shimah adds quietly.

“Cool, definitely party time when we get back then,” you say, feeling pretty happy that they all agreed.

The five of you return first to the village, letting the elder know the warg problem is taken care of, you receive profuse thanks, and much more respect from the village in general. The trip back is quiet on the enemy front, probably because it's getting late in the afternoon now, and the daytime monsters are lairing up to avoid the nightly gribblies, you are still fairly close to the city after all.

It’s weird, before being branded you were never one for long distance hiking and whatnot, but it really doesn’t affect you. It’s strange to think that just a few days ago this trip would have left you tired and with aching feet, now you aren’t even winded by the time you reach the city gates.

The five of you make it inside shortly before sunset and head off to the Inn, the others make their way over to a table to get food and drink ordered, but Adel waves you over to the counter, you let the others go ahead while you talk to the Innkeeper. “Something up?” you ask curiously, as you reach the bar.

“Nothing wrong, no,” he says easily, “Just wanted to give you your cut of the sales,” he passes you a pouch reasonably heavy with gilder.

Oh, right, you did that thing with the dungeon pamphlets, “Nice, they sold pretty well then?”

“Every single copy,” he responds, “It’s always like that when someone puts out a guide for the new set of starting dungeons. There are only so many low level branded at a time though, so you can probably only sell another two or three batches like that.”

“I’ll keep it in mind, thanks for doing business,” you pause, “I don’t suppose I could get you to let my party have a little celebration feast for only the usual price could I?” It's worth a shot, if you really helped him pull business today he might go for it.

“Ah, I suppose, I made quite a bit today, so a little extra food is fine,” He responds after a moment, “Have fun, it’s always best to celebrate the good times while they last.” ….that’s weirdly melancholic. You decide to just let it go though, and head over to the table.

“Done flirting with the Innkeeper Al?” Maya asks innocently as you take a seat.

“What? No,” you’re reaching now Maya, “he was just giving me my cut from the dungeon guides I wrote up this morning. Sera helped me out with them this morning.”

“Ah, they sold well then?” Sera asks. “I’m glad.”

“No fun at all,” Maya sighs.

Anyway, why not steer this back on track, “Hey I got us our extra food for free, no complaining.”

“Really? Nice,” Anshelm responds. Maya just sticks her tongue out at you, childish.

“Yeah, anyway, I wanted to ask what new abilities you guys got. I got a single target spell with some decent damage, and better overall spell buffs from staves,” you say.

“Ah, serious stuff at the party. Sera, you really need to loosen Al up a little,” Maya muses, “It was a little bit ago, but I can spend SP to deal armor piercing damage after a sneak attack, and move a little faster while maintaining stealth.”

“U-um, I think Al is fine the way she is,” Sera mumbles, “I got fireball, it does good damage in a burst around the main target, and better staves like Al.”

“Shield bash, lets me hit and stun an enemy trying to disengage, I get more extra defense from nearby enemies now too,” Anshelm puts in.

“It seems sensible to share, I can decrease an enemy’s magical power, and I now regenerate a very small amount of SP after each room as long as I have a talisman equipped. I can also heal the entire party, though the spell is costly,” Shimah says.

Nice, lots of good stuff to go around, something is still bugging you though, “Maya, are you going to equip that race mod?”

“Oh my, I almost forgot,” she replies, looking a bit sheepish, “I suppose there’s no time like the present.”

Awesome, you wanted to observe what somebody changing like that is like. Maya spends a moment in her inventory…. and then it happens. It’s almost disappointingly fast, a low flash of light, and then Maya is different. Not much so, but it is only a lesser mod. Pointed wolf ears, the same color as her hair poke up from the top of her head, and going by the way Anshelm is glancing down in surprise you would bet there’s a tail down there now. Maya looks rather bemused, studying her hands, the nails look a bit longer and sharper. “Interesting, I’ll have to be careful not to bite my tongue, my teeth are a little sharp now.” Then she jumps in her seat, her cheeks darkening as she glances over at Anshelm, “W-what was that?”

Suddenly Anshelm looks uncomfortable under everyone’s gazes. He slowly raises his hands, like a criminal trying to prove he doesn’t have a weapon, “I… uh, it looked really soft? I couldn’t help it?”

What. Why, I mean, you kind of want to poke at her ears, but you have to ask first, what the hell Anshelm.

“Ah, I’ve been defiled.” Maya says with mock sadness, “What a brute you are Anshelm.”

“Hey, I just um… petted your tail a little, I didn’t mean to uh…. that is.” Anshelm starts spluttering, waving his hands frantically, at least until Maya starts laughing anyway.

“It’s fun to see you get flustered,” She giggles, “Just ask next time, its weirdly sensitive right now, it’s going to take some getting used too." You would bet, the way the ears on top of her head are twitching, you would guess she’s still getting used to the extra sensory input, you wonder how exactly a second pair of ears work.

Wait, why is Sera staring at you, “Sera, something up?”

“No, nothing.” She says hurriedly, though you catch her glancing between Maya and you, or rather Maya’s new additions and you. Nope, don’t want to know, that way lays madness, or just contemplations on sexuality, same thing, not into girls, nope, nope, nope.

Luckily your food starts arriving after that as well as some drinks apparently on the house. You cheerfully pour yourself a glass of whatever alcohol this is, you don’t know the types well enough to discern. Your little celebration goes into full swing, everyone talking, laughing, eating and generally having a good time. It’s nice, even if the tavern does start to feel a little warm.
Man it really is warm, you unequip your cloak at some point, around the time things start feeling fuzzy. You remember scratching Maya behind her new ears, with the other woman looking really pleased, you guess they must be pretty sensitive too.

Hah, Anshelm looks funny in the warg armor, its just a couple of straps across his chest, shoulder armor and a pair of ridiculously tight pants, Maya looks pretty pleased with it though.

Shimah ended up singing something in a language you don’t recognize too, she has a really nice voice, and boobs, great boobs, why don’t you have nice boobs? Where’s the justice? Also Anshelm and Maya seem to have disappeared at some point, where did they go?

Sera is really warm too, you aren’t really sure when your arm ended up around her shoulders, she’s bright red though, it’s totally adorable, also apparently close contact between a blushing fire elementalist and an ice one makes condensation! Science!! Your robe is wet now though, that kinda sucks, you guess it’s fine though. Sera’s warm enough to dry you off, soft too. Soft like your bed, which you definitely, sorta, don’t, remember walking too.

Man your bed is warm, this Inn is great, sleepy time now though, because your head feels pretty fuzzy.

+30 Gilder from sales, -5 for Inn

Well stuff certainly happened, What’s Alice’s plan for the morning though?

[]Get a blessing?
[]What Blessing?

[]Item Shopping(buy/sell)
[]What items?

[]Go see about job crystals and race mods available in shops

…and what does Alice want to do with her day
[]Missions!
[]Dungeons!
[]Check out the Fusion Lab with Mom.
[]Something else?

 

Sorry for the delay on this one, if the votes allowit, I'll try to do the next one a bit faster.

 

Well stuff certainly happened, What’s Alice’s plan for the morning though?
[X]Get a blessing?
-[X]Blessing of Lesser Good fortune: Slightly raises the likelihood of receiving treasure from dungeons and wandering foes. 75 Gilder
--[X]Try to get the whole group to get this blessing. We have seen how better equipment really makes everything goes smoother, and paying a little in order to increase the likelyhood of getting such will mean more safety when doing harder dungeons.


[X]Go see about job crystals and race mods available in shops
-[X] Tell the whole group about what your mom told you about the different fusion jobs in case they are interested by crystals.

[X] Item Shopping(buy/sell)
[X] Stock up on Ethers and Potions. Buy 2 ethers for each of the casters and 2 Potions as well. Anshelm can hold on to them where people don't have enough room.
-[X]If Maya has no escape Orb, get the group to pitch in to buy one for her, and ask if they don't mind that from now on we always make sure everyone has one.


[X]Dungeons!
-[X] D rank Crystal Lake. Take full party.

 

[X]Get a blessing?
-[X]Blessing of Lesser Good fortune: Slightly raises the likelihood of receiving treasure from dungeons and wandering foes. 75 Gilder
--[X]Try to get the whole group to get this blessing. We have seen how better equipment really makes everything goes smoother, and paying a little in order to increase the likelyhood of getting such will mean more safety when doing harder dungeons.

[X]Go see about job crystals and race mods available in shops
-[X] Tell the whole group about what your mom told you about the different fusion jobs in case they are interested by crystals.

[X]If Maya has no escape Orb, get the group to pitch in to buy one for her, and ask if they don't mind that from now on we always make sure everyone has one.

[X] Make sure we put out another stack of guides.

[X]Dungeons!
-[X] D rank Wailing Caverns

 

[X] Xicree

 

Buying the blessing for the whole party would cost 75*5=375

Not having a clue how the blessings stack (Probably additive and adding to cat's curiousity and the boots) this might be wrong. (If the same blessing's benefit only works once per party and won't stack with itself, the numbers still hold, but we only spend 1 person's gold on it.

Assume it's additive. N*B*X must be greater than N*75 (where N is the number of blessings, B is the percentage increase of the blessing and X is the average take in loot of a day's adventuring).

With a 10% blessing, 5*.1*X>5*75 means .1X>75 or as long as the dungeon's drops exceed 750 total, the blessing pays itself off and is therefore worthwhile.

5% would require 1500 gilder in loot a day

3750 gilder would justify a 2% loot buff.

With a 1% loot buff, we'd need 'base loot' of 7500 gold or higher on average to justify the cost of the blessing. (IE: Loot without counting cat's curiousity or the boots since those won't multiply via the blessing.)

In practice those numbers would be higher because some drops aren't useable and we'd have to subtract the cost of finding a buyer and the potentially reduced value in selling to stores, etc.

Now, assuming that the green drops in Crystal Cavern E were about 200 a piece (2 and a half times the cost of the white, this may be high) we earned about 1100 gilder worth of drops total. That means CC E's rank X=1000, but we had a better than average run as far as I can tell, so let's call X 900. 900X2=1800 (two runs!) which justifies the blessing at a 5% chance (or anything as low as a 4.2% chance or so really). This means that the blessing is probably worth it on anything which drops more loot (on average) than Crystal Cave E rank.

Now, regarding what dungeon we do, E rank crystal lake was almost too much for us and we are stronger, we aren't THAT much stronger, so we probably should stay well away from the D rank there. We have no IC reason to push forward so fast. We're somewhat tougher, but not THAT much better to handle a dungeon that's half again as high in level, and a rank up which seemed to make a difference looking at the ogre's den.

Wailing Caverns is a 6 room dungeon for 3 people with a level cap of 7, probably harder than anything we've done at D rank, but very very likely much easier than CC's D rank,. making it a much more feasible option.

I am, however, a bit curious about XP/JP gains from smaller parties, so I'd consider trying to solo goblin glade E rank as well. We have the damage output maybe to handle it, though that would exclude Maya.


[X]Get a blessing?
-[X]Blessing of Lesser Good fortune: Slightly raises the likelihood of receiving treasure from dungeons and wandering foes. 75 Gilder
--[X]Try to get the whole group to get this blessing. We have seen how better equipment really makes everything goes smoother, and paying a little in order to increase the likelyhood of getting such will mean more safety when doing harder dungeons.


[X]Go see about job crystals and race mods available in shops
-[X] Tell the whole group about what your mom told you about the different fusion jobs in case they are interested by crystals.

[X]If Maya has no escape Orb, get the group to pitch in to buy one for her, and ask if they don't mind that from now on we always make sure everyone has one.

[X] Make sure we put out another stack of guides.

[X]Dungeons!
-[X] D rank Wailing Caverns

 

@Darkened
Mmmh, good thoughts on the blessings, and that confirms they are worth it. Moreoever, given that it also means higher odds of getting better items and we don't yet have access to the auction house, they are even more worth it.

Switching to your vote toward D Rank Wailing Caverns because, thinking about it, it actually has a high odd of giving us the kind of items we want: we know it has water stuff (The Shawl) so there should be some chance to get a Water Elementalis Job crystal, we know it drops specific items for stealth and Maya is probably the one with the worst armor right now so that's good.

The real danger is we know the enemies there are stealthed and they give status effect, so might want to stock up on salves.

 

[X] Get a blessing?
-[X] Blessing of Lesser Good fortune: Slightly raises the likelihood of receiving treasure from dungeons and wandering foes. 75 Gilder
--[X] Try to get the whole group to get this blessing. We have seen how better equipment really makes everything goes smoother, and paying a little in order to increase the likelihood of getting such will mean more safety when doing harder dungeons.

[X] Tell the whole group about what your mom told you about the different fusion jobs in case they are interested by crystals.

[X] If Maya has no escape Orb, get the group to pitch in to buy one for her, and ask if they don't mind that from now on we always make sure everyone has one.
[X] Buy a Paralysis Salve, in case Shimah gets hit with it
-[X] Get Maya to buy one as well

[X] Make sure we put out another stack of guides.

[X] Dungeons!
-[X] E rank Crystal Lake
--[X] Remind Seraphine to equip the Earthspeaker's Boots for the Caverns


We need to get Anshelm a new weapon, and one gotten from loot is often better than bought in shops. Don't have to worry about not getting them from Beast-type of enemies, since the Warg Fang, Warg Spine, and Spider Talisman definitely didn't come from humanoid equips.

Also, might net Water Elementalist, Earth Elementalist, or even Wind Elementalist Crystal (Wailing Cavern).
EDITEDIT: Confirmed that Crystal Lake will trigger the Earthspeaker's Boots, so hopefully we can net one of the spears from the spear knights or even the Crystal Lord's spearstaff.


EDIT: Certainly ain't short, Yrs!

 

Double-posting to ask.
@yrsillar
[08:01] <+Toad|Breakfast> Just re-read Crystal Lake
[08:02] <+Toad|Breakfast> The misnomer about Crystal Cavern might not be wrong per se
[08:02] <+Toad|Breakfast> Since Crystal Lake Dungeon exists underground
[08:02] <+Toad|Breakfast> Or underlake, so to speak
[08:02] <+Toad|Breakfast> Wonder whether the Earthspeaker's Boots will trigger in there...